I have recently received offers from the alternate lists at UTMB and UTHSCSA. I am having a very hard time choosing between the two. I currently live in Austin, TX so both are relatively close to home. Any current students or prospective students who know a bit about the two and could share some information/suggestions, would be much appreciated! Thanks
I read Austin, TX so I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that your username csn4646 is also your UTEID lol.
That being said UTHSCSA vs UTMB is in my opinion the toughest comparison in Texas.
If it's important to you, San Antonio is only an hour drive away from 6th street on a weekend
. It's also located in the huge south texas medical center (not as big as the houston one, but still respectable), so there are many opportunities there. I grew up in San Antonio and its a great family oriented city, not as cool as Austin, but at least you can call yourself a Spurs fan
On the other hand, I have 2 family members who've graduated from UTMB and they've both said that for whatever reason maybe based on the curriculum that they seemed to be much happier there than their peers who attended other schools and despite this, UTMB has traditionally a higher average USMLEstep1 score and to be honest, while the city of Galveston may be really lame (it's a beach, though!), I imagine spending most of my time studying without any distractions. If I wanted to take a break, Houston is really close.
That being said, between these two I'd choose UTMB, but I wouldn't regret choosing either one.
Congrats though and good luck!